Thread: Beginners Tips: May 2012

Great information gentlemen. I have been straight razor shaving for going on two years, hardly a veteran, not quite a newb. This thread has helped clarify the whole process in my pea sized brain.

In reality the described process (eliminating variables, starting with the basics, etc. ) applies to so many problems in life.

If you have ever had the experience of watching a professional football team practice it is surprising to most how much time they spend every day on fundamentals. You would think that at the pro level they would not be doing that anymore. The fact is that a big part of there practice is spent focusing on the basics, first step, pursuit angles, hand position etc. etc. etc.

In a way shaving with a straight is the same. Until you are sound fundamentally the rest is a hit or miss proposition.

Originally Posted by ghostrider5557

Glen-

Thank you so much for the post. I have yet to get my first straight (I need to understand more), but when I reflect and ask myself why I want a straight razor, what you described resonates with me personally as a motivator. Let me reiterate some of your points and how they resonate with a beginner to wet shaving.

ghostrider--

I'm with Glen, that was a great post. Your post count suggests that you're fairly new, so Welcome!

The thread for this year's Denver meetup is here. Hope you can join us! Chime in with which weekend works best for you.

Well put good sir ! Same applies for stropping - took me a while to get that right ! When I did , it made a world of difference - combined with what you mentioned as well !

Thanks for a great post .

Cheers,

Scott

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Attachment 97164

Well gents time to actually write something again after skating by last month with a review as many know I write these Tips each month after reading most all the posts and search for trends...


Variables:

Often times we forget just how many things have to happen for a great shave to occur, I was personally/painfully reminded of how two variables at the same time can confuse things up..

At the Yakima meet I got to mess around with two "new to me" honing stones, a unknown origin 3-5k followed by a German Faso water stone that may or may not be a Thuringen..
We got some pretty good edges that were shaved that day with great results so before the end of the meet I touched up my personal Wacker on the two stones and headed home with that razor and a plethora of new soap samples...

Well last Friday I had a chance to do a bit of testing, I took out one of the samples admittedly the Artisan's first attempt at a shaving soap, and worked up a lather... I knew the lather was lacking but I pressed on, (mistake #1) I took out the Wacker with an edge that I had never tried before (mistake #2) after letting the lather sit while I stropped in the Wacker I did my normal hot towel and re-lather then started shaving...



Did I stop??? nope like an idiot I kept going and was rewarded with a terrible shave, weepers, nicks, razor burn... So here is the the problem, because I had too many unknowns, I could not be sure what caused the bad shave, and I unlike many newbs to this hobby, can eliminate the actual shaving part of the equation, after 30+ years of this, I know how to handle a razor, and I know my face ... I also know how to hone a razor, and strop a razor, so I eliminated those too

Now yesterday morning I went back at this with a proved lather, as that was my first suspect, and was rewarded with a close comfortable shave...

Now imagine a new guy who has to add in all the other variables that I eliminated because of experience, and there is no wonder why we tell people to take things slow and steady and work through each problem...


Another variable that is little discussed, other than these two numbers 20° and 30°

The angle of attack when presenting the razor to the skin

I have never really been that comfortable with those two numbers myself, and when pressed I usually say two spine widths as this at least gets the new guys to realize that it will differ a bit with each razor.
It is actually more complicated, or looked at another way, much simpler, depending on the size and grind of the razor that angle will vary quite a bit, so to think of it as an actual angle might not be the easiest way to describe it to newbs..
The old razor inserts have given me the best idea for it, they say "Place the razor flat against the cheek and begin to move the razor, as you move the spine away from the face, when the razor begins to cut smoothly that is the proper angle" This sounds much harder then it actually is in practice.
This is pretty much exactly what experienced shavers do every day by feel
We start the stroke and we adjust the angle to cut the smoothest by feel, I know this is hard when first starting out, but this is why the advice is to start with the flat side of the cheeks first, so you can learn the feel of the razor and how it cuts...
The more time you take learning how the razor handles, and how each stroke cuts, and then cuts more efficiently, the better your shaves will be...


As always with these posts I encourage the Senior Members to add to this thread, as we often have different points of view and they could help someone out with our Hobby...